Located on the prestigious rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris the new design is an achievement of “unification” for the Italian brand in France. The design of the Parisian boutique for an Italian brand is inspired by the history and unity of two cultures. The result is “Maximal Contemporary” creation, an architecturally seductive experience rich in texture, colour and allure.
The challenge for the lighting scheme was to deliver light across a variety of spaces with a coherent and consistent quality, ensuring the appropriate illumination of products and architectural elements alike.
The casual observer would never know how rigorously the lighting design has been developed. Not a single garment, product or architectural detail is left wanting for light, and yet at no point is the overall impression that of an over lit space. Rather the whole scheme comes together as a harmonious luminous environment which feels natural and comfortable.
In fact, it is as much what is not seen that is the truly impressive nature of the lighting design within this project. The majority of lighting equipment is never seen, although the light itself is allowed to flow into spaces and onto objects, revealing everything which should be revealed, and leaving contrast and shadow to do its own work where that is appropriate too. Who would realise, for example, that every single shelf has a carefully designed selection of miniature luminaires to deliver both ambient and accent light within its own micro-luminous environment?
Likewise the architecture is accented and animated with multiple subtle yet visually significant illuminated elements delivered from carefully designed and rigorously tested and precisely integrated details.
Moving effortlessly from the micro-luminous environment of the individual shelf to the monumental scale of the double height entrance with its enormous 7-meter tall hand-crafted mosaic glass tile portrait of first Empress of France Joséphine de Beauharnais and a second sculpted red marble stair with a monumental glass mosaic mural of the Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte in the men’s areas, are equally sensitively and appropriately illuminated for the barely perceptible lighting interventions.
The interior spaces are not designed as distinctive rooms, rather they are conceived as large open areas that flow together creating a soft, sensual, baroque inspired perception of fluidity and movement. The lighting therefore has been designed to provide a seamless and sensuous element of the architecture, as seen in the undulating curved illuminated slots flowing across ceilings, which provide both visual reinforcement of the architectural language, and conceal functional task lighting required to reveal the products throughout the space.
In every instance, the lighting scheme has been carefully planned and executed to deliver appropriate and appealing light, even where mirrors are mounted upon moving tracks, the customer is revealed to themselves in the best possible light.
